Climate Change May Make Phoenix Uninhabitable By 2050

In 2015, 85 Phoenix Maricopa County residents died from causes associated with the heat. In 2016, 130 did so. Arizona State University climatologist David Hondula tells Vice that those deaths cannot be directly tied to climate change, but he warns that increasing temperatures will require Phoenix, which is located within the county, to step up its game when it comes to “social service programs, homeless shelters, the opioid epidemic,” and other “intermediating factors. If we’re not paying attention to those at the same time we’re keeping an eye on the thermometers, we might really miss some drivers and some threat magnifiers.”